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Microsoft Internet Explorer
Bonzi's preferred Web Browser. Fun Fact: If you try to go to a site that tells you how to remove BonziBUDDY while he's running, your Internet Explorer will crash. I'm completely serious, try it. Biography Internet Explorera (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorerb and Windows Internet Explorer,c commonly abbreviated IE or'MSIE') is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included in the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year. Later versions were available as free downloads, or in service packs, and included in the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) service releases of Windows 95 and later versions of Windows. The browser is discontinued, but still maintained.2 Internet Explorer was one of the most widely used web browsers, attaining a peak of about 95% usage share by 2003.5 This came after Microsoft used bundling to win the first browser war against Netscape, which was the dominant browser in the 1990s. Its usage share has since declined with the launch of Firefox (2004) and Google Chrome (2008), and with the growing popularity of operating systems such as Android and iOS that do not run Internet Explorer. Estimates for Internet Explorer's market share are about 3.04% across all platforms or by StatCounter's numbers ranked 6th, while on desktop, the only platform it's ever had significant share (i.e. excluding mobile and Xbox) it's ranked 3rd at 6.97%,6 just after Firefox (others7 place IE 2nd with 10.86% just ahead of), as of August 2018(browser market share is notoriously difficult to calculate). Microsoft spent over US$100 million per year on Internet Explorer in the late 1990s,8 with over 1,000 people involved in the project by 1999.910 Versions of Internet Explorer for other operating systems have also been produced, including an Xbox 360 version called Internet Explorer for Xbox and for platforms Microsoft no longer supports: Internet Explorer for Mac and Internet Explorer for UNIX (Solaris andHP-UX), and an embedded OEM version called Pocket Internet Explorer, later rebranded Internet Explorer Mobile made for Windows Phone, Windows CE, and previously, based on Internet Explorer 7 for Windows Mobile. On March 17, 2015, Microsoft announced that Microsoft Edge would replace Internet Explorer as the default browser on its Windows 10devices. This effectively makes Internet Explorer 11 the last release (however IE 10 and 9 also receive security updates as of 2018).11Internet Explorer, however, remains on Windows 10 primarily for enterprise purposes.12 Since January 12, 2016, only Internet Explorer 11 has been supported.1314 Support varies based on the operating system's technical capabilities and its support lifecycle.15 The browser has been scrutinized throughout its development for use of third-party technology (such as the source code of Spyglass Mosaic, used without royalty in early versions) and security and privacy vulnerabilities, and the United States and the European Union have alleged that integration of Internet Explorer with Windows has been to the detriment of fair browser competition.16 History Main articles: History of Internet Explorer and Internet Explorer version history Internet Explorer 1 Internet Explorer 1 The Internet Explorer project was started in the summer of 1994 by Thomas Reardon, who, according to the Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyReview of 2003,17 used source code from Spyglass, Inc. Mosaic, which was an early commercial web browser with formal ties to the pioneeringNational Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) Mosaic browser.1819 In late 1994, Microsoft licensed Spyglass Mosaic for a quarterly fee plus a percentage of Microsoft's non-Windows revenues for the software.19 Although bearing a name similar to NCSA Mosaic, Spyglass Mosaic had used the NCSA Mosaic source code sparingly.20 The first version, dubbed Microsoft Internet Explorer, made its debut on August 16, 1995.1819 It was installed as part of the Internet Jumpstart Kit inMicrosoft Plus! for Windows 95 and Plus!.21 The Internet Explorer team began with about six people in early development.2022 Internet Explorer 1.5 was released several months later for Windows NT and added support for basic table rendering. By including it free of charge on their operating system, they did not have to pay royalties to Spyglass Inc, resulting in a lawsuit and a US$8 million settlement on January 22, 1997.1823 Microsoft was sued by Synet Inc. in 1996, over the trademark infringement.24 Internet Explorer 2–10 Main articles: Internet Explorer 2, Internet Explorer 3, Internet Explorer 4, Internet Explorer 5, Internet Explorer 6, Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 8, Internet Explorer 9, and Internet Explorer 10 Internet Explorer 11 Main article: Internet Explorer 11 Internet Explorer 11 is featured in a Windows 8.1 update which was released on October 17, 2013. It includes an incomplete mechanism for syncing tabs. It is a major update to its developer tools,2526 enhanced scaling for high DPI screens,27 HTML5 prerender and prefetch,28 hardware-accelerated JPEG decoding,29 closed captioning, HTML5 full screen,30 and is the first Internet Explorer to support WebGL313233 and Google's protocol SPDY (starting at v3).34 This version of IE has features dedicated to Windows 8.1, including cryptography (WebCrypto),25adaptive bitrate streaming (Media Source Extensions)35 and Encrypted Media Extensions.30 Internet Explorer 11 was made available for Windows 7 users to download on November 7, 2013, with Automatic Updates in the following weeks.36 Internet Explorer 11's user agent string now identifies the agent as "Trident" (the underlying layout engine) instead of "MSIE". It also announces compatibility with Gecko (the layout engine of Firefox). Microsoft claimed that Internet Explorer 11, running the WebKit SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark, was the fastest browser as of October 15, 2013.37 End of life Microsoft Edge, officially unveiled on January 21, 2015, has replaced Internet Explorer as the default browser on Windows 10. Internet Explorer is still installed in Windows 10 in order to maintain compatibility with older websites and intranet sites that require ActiveX and other Microsoft legacy web technologies.383940 According to Microsoft, development of new features for Internet Explorer has ceased. However, it will continue to be maintained as part of the support policy for the versions of Windows with which it is included.2